Page 27 of Woven Souls

The brute, dressed in a tailored tux and sitting stiffly beside me, is anxious because I’m fidgeting? I suppress a smile at the thought. It’s easy to do thanks to my nerves, which rise with each block we pass.

“You’re a fearless warrior. A bit of fidgeting shouldn’t bother you.”

“I thought you weren’t fidgeting?” Viktor counters. “Ex- warrior.”

The last part is spoken so softly that it’s barely a whisper. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to hear that. Rather than acknowledge it, I keep quiet.

The shops we pass are fancy. They’re full of clothes and accessories I’ll never be able to afford. The people out tonight are posh and well-to-do. You can see it in the way they dress and hold themselves. The rich always seem to have the same air of snobbery. Do they learn it in school? Is it a passed down trait? Or maybe at a certain age they have to bend over to receive the proper size stick up the ass to give them the sense of superiority that they ooze.

“Why is your heart racing so much? You aren’t thinking about chickening out now, are you?”

Again, Viktor manages to pull my attention away from the snobs outside. I can feel his intense stare as he studies my profile.

“No, I’m not chickening out.” The warlock is the least of my concerns this evening.HimI can handle.

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

I wince. The unconvincing tone only causes his tense stare to grow even more piercing. I swear it’s burning a hole through my cheek.

“The fluttering of your heart tells me otherwise.”

Stupid Fae super hearing.

How can I explain the rising anxiety has nothing to do with the scary warlock we are about to face, but ratherwherewe’re meeting this warlock? It’s ridiculous. I know this, and I don’t expect Viktor to have enough empathy to understand it. So, I press my lips together.

“If you don’t tell me what’s wrong, I’ll have our driver turn us back around,” Viktor threatens. “If there is something you’re afraid of, I need to know about it ahead of time.”

I roll my eyes. He must have seen because he leans forward in his seat, his hand reaching for the shoulder of our driver. Fuck, no! I’m not letting him call for an end to this before it even begins.

“I’m nervous about the restaurant, not Fredrick!” I blurt out quickly.

Viktor doesn’t lean back, but he does hesitate to draw the attention of our driver. He stares at my face, waiting for an explanation. With an exasperated sigh and cheeks burning with humiliation, I cave.

“I’ve never… You know, been to such a fancy restaurant before. I’m nervous about making some social faux pas. What if I use the wrong fork or something? I was excited when we left the house but now I’m second guessing myself.”

Viktor has the audacity to roll his eyes at me as I bare my soul to him.

“If you’re going to lie, Willow, then I’mdefinitely—”

“I’m not lying, Viktor!”

Viktor’s hemp-colored eyes trail over my face. “Explain.”

My cheeks are on fire now. Why is he insisting on this? I only caved so he won’t veer off from the plan. But I didn’t realize I would have to explain my ineptitude to him.

“Places like this... I stick out already because, well, look at me and look out there.” I wave at the people we’re passing on the sidewalk. “I’m not a size zero, or a two, or heaven forbid a four. I love how I look. I loveme. Most of the time, I don’t even care what other people think of me. But a big girl in a fancy setting like this? People are going to take notice. Add physically out of place to not knowing the proper etiquette in a fancy restaurant and I’m going to REALLY stick out. It doesn’t really help to have you by my side. You look like you belong. I know it's stupid. I don't expect you to understand, but since you insisted on me telling you, now you know, okay? So, just unwind your panties and take a chill pill.”

Viktor doesn’t peel his sharp eyes off me. It’s unnerving. The silence between us is tense, too tense. Under his piercing gaze and given his lack of response, I feel tooseen. I look away, hating that I didn’t just lie and make up a more reasonable excuse as to why I’m nervous. Viktor doesn’t have an empathic bone in his—

“I’ll teach you proper etiquette.”

My head whips around to find Viktor leaning back in his seat, but still watching me.

“What?” It’s a stupid question. I understood what he said. I’m just surprised thathesaid it.

“Just watch what I do. It's really not all that difficult.” Viktor shrugs and finally looks away from me to look out his window.

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